Mack Brown Biography

2005 National Championship only a tiny part of the legacy of Mack Brown

Mack Brown: Growing Up

Born in 1951 in Cookeville, Tennessee, Mack Brown came from a long line of coaches. Being a coach's son is always a double-edged sword when it comes to football. The knowledge is passed down from father to son, but the pressure to succeed can be unrelenting. This tough upbringing helped forge Mack Brown as a player and as a disciplined man. Mack Brown saw a promising career as a player for the Florida State Seminoles end with a horrific injury. But, as his playing career ended, Mack Brown found a new career as a player/coach, and the legacy began.

Mack Brown: Early Coaching

Mack Brown quickly shot up the coaching ranks as a specialist in wide receivers, and his offensive knowledge continually opened doors. Mack Brown lived the nomadic life of a college football coach for years as he got one position after another. The Iowa State Cyclones gave Mack Brown his first gig as an offensive coordinator which in turn led to the head coaching job at Appalachian State. The small-school game was not for Mack Brown, and he moved into the big ranks as a supporting coach for the Oklahoma Sooners.

The Tulane Green Wave gave Mack Brown his first major NCAA head coaching job, and the brilliant coach managed to turn around the suffering football team and landed the Tulane Green Wave in their first Bowl Game in many years. Mack Brown had the biggest task of his career when he took over the University of North Carolina Tar Heels football team. From 1988-97, Mack Brown changed the North Carolina Tar Heels from a joke team at a basketball school to a great football program. Mack Brown's great recruiting talents caught the eye of the Texas Longhorns in 1998.

Mack Brown: Texas Longhorns

The Texas Longhorns football team had fallen into decline and was not the traditional powerhouse it was in past decades. The disastrous tenure of John Mackovic had fans with Texas Longhorns tickets demanding a new head coach. Mack Brown quickly went to work rebuilding the Texas Longhorns football program. RB Ricky Williams and QB Major Applewhite were there when Mack Brown arrived, and the offensive genius of Mack Brown helped Ricky Williams win the Heisman Trophy in 1998.

The arch rival Texas A&M Aggies and their head coach R.C. Slocum gave the Texas Longhorns fits for more than a decade, but the true threat was Bob Stoops and the Oklahoma Sooners. Mack Brown quickly went to work in building the recruiting base that the Texas Longhorns had lost to these two schools. Over the early 21st century, Mack Brown continued to build the prestige of the Texas Longhorns and drew more and more recruits. The 2002 Texas Longhorns recruiting class would prove to be one of the best in Texas Longhorns history and turned the balance of Big 12 power.

Mack Brown: Vince Young Era

The top of the 2002 Texas Longhorns recruiting class was QB Vince Young. Mack Brown let the talented quarterback develop for a year and then tossed Vince Young right into the thick of it. Vince Young struggled through his first year, but by his sophomore season, Vince Young became the messiah to thousands of fans with Texas Longhorns tickets. The 2004 Texas Longhorns season was the breakout that Mack Brown needed as the team went 11-1 with a victory in the Rose Bowl.

Mack Brown: 2005 Longhorns Team

Featuring a cast of players like Vince Young, Limas Sweed, Selvin Young, Michael Griffin, and Michael Huff, the expectations for the 2005 football team had fans with Texas Longhorns tickets in a frenzy like never before. The Texas Longhorns 2005 football team rolled through the regular season and totally blew out opponents in every game. Only the Ohio State Buckeyes presented a challenge, but even they fell to Vince Young and Mack Brown.

As the No. 2 team in the nation, the Texas Longhorns faced what had been called the best team in college football ever assembled, the 2005 USC Trojans. Led by Heisman Trophy winners Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, the USC Trojans were seen as unstoppable. The 2006 Rose Bowl went down as the best college football game ever played and kept millions around the nation on the edge of their seats. Texas Longhorns tickets featured the UT Longhorns falling behind early before the terrific game plan of Mack Brown and the heroics of Vince Young took the BCS National Championship.

Mack Brown: Colt McCoy

Young QB Colt McCoy and Mack Brown were forced to go on after the shadow of Vince Young and the 2006 National Championship. Even with a redshirt freshman QB and missing several pieces, the 2006 Texas Longhorns managed to go 10-3 with a victory in the Alamo Bowl. The 2007 Texas Longhorns team finished with the same record and a victory in the Holiday Bowl. Fans with Texas Longhorns tickets knew that Mack Brown had finally developed his young team into the best squad since the 2005 Texas Longhorns football team.

Mack Brown: 2008 Longhorns

Mack Brown and the Texas Longhorns entered the 2008 NCAA season with star players QB Colt McCoy and DE Brian Orakpo holding down each side of the ball. Aggressive new defensive coordinator Will Muscamp was brought in to fix the ailing Texas Longhorns defense and quickly had them matching the tempo of the spread offense. The Texas Longhorns started ranked at No. 10 and were deemed to be too young to go much higher. Brian Orakpo and Colt McCoy both caught fire however and the Texas Longhorns raged up the ranks, much to the delight of fans with Texas Longhorns tickets.

The Red River Rivalry between the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners was another classic, but Mack Brown's game plan gave the boys from Austin the victory and the No. 1 BCS ranking. A blowout victory over the Mizzou Tigers kept the Texas Longhorns' BCS Championship hopes alive and showed what the combined genius of Mack Brown and Will Muscamp can do. Under the leadership of Mack Brown, QB Colt McCoy is also a frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy. Fans with Texas Longhorns tickets know that the future for Mack Brown and the Texas Longhorns is burning bright.

Newsletter Sign up

Sign up for the OnlineTickets.com Newsletter and get updates on the latest events, special offers and discounts.